This invention relates to a display for dictation/transcription apparatus and, more particularly, to such a display for providing, concurrently, indications of lengths and locations of messages, locations of instructions, and the present relative location of the record medium upon which such messages and instructions are stored.
It is common, when operating dictation equipment, for a user to record several different, distinct messages on a single record medium, such as a magnetic tape. Advantageously, the end of one message and the beginning of the next-following message should be indicated, preferably by a visual display, to obviate the need for the user to review all of his dictation in order to access a desired message. Such a visual display is even more helpful to a transcriptionist to whom the task of transcribing the dictated messages is assigned. Modern dictating equipment, such as dictation devices sold by Dictaphone Corporation, the assignee of the present invention, is provided with visual display devices to provide such indications. Examples of such displays are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,051,540, 4,200,893 and 4,410,923, all assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. A still further display is disclosed in copending application Ser. No. 564,480, filed Dec. 21, 1983 and also assigned to the assignee of this invention. The disclosure of this copending application likewise is incorporated herein by reference.
The aforementioned displays include an index formed of an array (typically, a linear array) of light indicator elements, or segments, constructed of LEDs, LCDs or other suitable indicator elements. Selected ones of these indicator elements are energized to provide visual indications of the locations of ends of letters, recorded instructions, and the like. Typically, after a user has completed the dictation of a message, such as a letter, he actuates a switch (known, generally, as a "letter" switch) which triggers a suitable generator to generate a "cue" signal that is recorded on the magnetic medium at the very location at which his message ends and which energizes a selected indicator element. Similarly, before dictating an instruction, special note or other distinguishable matter, the user may actuate an "instruction" switch to trigger the cue signal generator to generate an "instruction" cue signal that is recorded at the very location at which the instruction begins and to energize an appropriate selector element.
In some models of dictating equipment, the aforementioned "letter" and "instruction" switches are formed as two separate switching devices, or pushbuttons, each resulting in the recording of a different type of cue signal. In other models, the very same switch, or pushbutton, is used to record both the "letter" and the "instruction" cue signals. In these, a single "burst" of cue tone signal is recorded in response to the single actuation of the cue switch to designate a "letter" cue indication; and a double "burst" of cue tone signal is recorded by a double actuation of that cue switch to designate an "instruction" cue indication.
In dictation equipment of the aforementioned type, pulses are generated as the record medium (typically, magnetic tape) is transported. For example, a pulse generator may be coupled to the record medium transport system to generate those pulses. These pulses are counted; and the instantaneous count represents the present relative location of that medium and also serves to identify a particular indicator element included in the array which will be energized if a cue signal is generated. Thus, "letter" and "instruction" indications are provided, depending upon the count which has been reached and whether a "letter" or "instruction" cue signal is generated.
This "letter" and "instruction" indicator display is useful not only to the author of dictation but also to the transcriptionist. Typically, and as described in the aforementioned patents, the record medium upon which cue signals have been recorded is scanned prior to transcription. The recorded cue signals are detected and used to energize a similar array of indicator elements to provide a visual indication of the locations of recorded "letters" and "instructions". As the record medium is scanned, pulses are generated and counted; respective counts serving to identify the proper indicator element for energization if a cue signal is detected.
In addition to displaying the locations of "letters" and "instructions", the array used in dictating and transcribing equipment of the aforementioned type also provide cursor indications representing the present position of the record medium. In accordance with generally accepted protocols, individual indicator elements in the array are energized, one-at-a-time, in a left-to-right direction when the record medium is advanced, and in a right-to-left direction when the record medium is reversed. The particular indicator element to be energized is determined by the aforementioned count of pulses which are generated as the record medium moves.
In earlier versions of such dictation displays, a single array of indicator elements was used to provide "letter", "instruction" and cursor indications. Although an attempt was made to provide a distinction between "letter" and "instruction" indications, the resultant display often was confusing and it was difficult for the user to distinguish between the various types of information that were indicated. U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,923 suggests a solution to this problem and discloses two separate linear arrays: one to display the locations of "letters" and the other to display the locations of "instructions". One or the other of these arrays serves the additional purpose of providing a cursor indication and, typically, the cursor display is superimposed onto the "letter" display. As an example, a particular indicator element in the "letter" array is energized at a steady-state to indicate the location of a "letter", and is flashed to indicate the cursor location. One drawback of such a display is the inability to distinguish between different types of "letters" and different types of "instructions", and as a result, the display of different types of messages is constrained. For example, no distinction is provided between a "normal" letter and a "priority" letter, the latter requiring immediate attention and necessitating its transcription out of turn. Similarly, no distinction is provided between "normal" and "special" instructions. The advantage of providing five separate indications ("normal" and "priority" letters, "normal" and "special" instructions, and a cursor) simply cannot be achieved by utilizing only two separate arrays.
While the preferred dictation display which has heretofore been commercially available uses a flashing indicator element to represent the present location of the record medium, it has been proposed (but not made available) to energize successive indicator elements as the record medium advances. Thus, depending upon the number of elements which are "on", the length of dictation is indicated. However, when this display is used in a transcribe machine, the "filling in" of indicator elements as the record medium advances tends to obliterate any indication of the locations of "letters" and "instructions".
Another disadvantage of previously available and previously proposed dictation displays is that no indication is provided of the actual location at which dictation commences. For example, let it be assumed that dictation is recorded on a magnetic tape, such as a conventional tape cassette. Let it be further assumed that a fresh cassette is loaded into the dictating machine, but the tape has not been fully rewound. In most machines of the aforementioned type, the electronics therein merely assumes that the tape has been fully rewound and, therefore, the physically left-most indicator element normally is energized initially to indicate that dictation has commenced at the very beginning of the tape. But, this indication may be erroneous if a certain unknown quantity of tape had been advanced prior to the beginning of dictation. Although desirable, such dictation displays do not indicate accurately the relative location along that tape at which dictation actually begins.
Another disadvantage of the aforementioned dictation displays resides in the fact that each indicator element included in the array is associated with the same quantity of record medium, notwithstanding that record media of different capacities or of different recording rates may be used. For example, a typical array may be provided with thirty indicator elements, each element being associated with one minute of dictation. If the record medium comprises a magnetic tape, successive indicator elements are energized for every minute that the tape is transported. If the length of tape has a capacity of thirty minutes of dictation, this correspondence of one minute of dictation to one indicator element is satisfactory. However, if the tape length is sufficient to record sixty minutes of dictation (for example, a conventional C-120 tape cassette), the display is satisfactory only for the first thirty minutes of dictation. Cursor and cue indications for the remaining thirty minutes will not be displayed. Similarly, for tape lengths that accommodate less than thirty minutes of dictation, such as C-30 cassettes or minicassettes, one-half of the array will not be energized and, thus, becomes superfluous. Still further, if the dictating machine is capable of recording at two different speeds (e.g. "normal" and "slow" speeds), as often is the case with equipment that operates with microcassettes, the display may be accurate at one tape speed but not the other. It is, therefore, desirable to vary the represented length of record medium provided by each indicator element in the array. For example, each indicator element may represent thirty seconds of dictation for C-60 cassettes and for microcassettes, may represent fifteen seconds of dictation for minicassettes, and may represent sixty seconds of dictation for C-120 cassettes and for microcassettes which are used at slow speeds.